Miami Marlins make roster moves

The Miami Marlins made some roster moves this morning. We hope that The Fish avoid a series sweep from the New York Mets and also think about potential trades. The previous series win is now sadly in the rearview mirror. So what roster moves did Kim Ng do? The Miami Marlins basically shuffled relief pitchers around with the hope that this improves the struggling group this season.

The Miami Marlins made some roster moves to hopefully improve the bullpen.

Right-handed RP Eli Villalobos was designated for assignment. Villalobos has never pitched in the Majors and has a career 4.36 ERA with 11.3 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 in the Minor Leagues. In AAA for Jacksonville this season, he produced an 11.57 ERA with 13.5 K/9 and 13.5 BB/9. It seems that the Miami Marlins decided that he wasn't going to help the team this season, and so the 26 year old may be leaving the team completely.

Recently called up left-handed relief pitcher Daniel Castano has been demoted back to AAA. Castano debuted in 2020 with a 3.03 ERA/4.81 FIP with 3.6 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 7 games (6 starts) and 29.2 innings pitched. He followed that up in 2021 with a 4.87 ERA/5.14 FIP and 5.8 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 in 5 games (4 starts) and 20.1 innings pitched. He wasn't that much better in 2022, as he produced a 4.04 ERA/4.74 FIP with 5.0 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9 in 10 games/35.2 innings pitched. In 2023, he produced a 27.00 ERA/28.34 FIP with 18.0 K/9 and 9.0 BB/9 in a game and an inning pitched.

The Miami Marlins called up left-handed relief pitcher Devin Smeltzer to replace Castano. Smeltzer pitched his entire career for the Minnesota Twins so far, debuting in 2019 with a 3.86 ERA/4.58 FIP with 7.0 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9 in 11 games and 49.0 innings pitched. He followed that up in 2020 with a 6.75 ERA/4.07 FIP with 8.4 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 in 7 games and 16.0 innings pitched. In 2021, he produced a 0.00 ERA/3.81 FIP with 5.8 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 in a game and 4.2 innings pitched. In 2022, he produced a 3.71 ERA/5.23 FIP with 5.1 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in 15 games and 70.1 innings pitched.